Plagiodera hiekei, Eva Sprecher- Uebersax & Mauro Daccordi, 2016

Eva Sprecher- Uebersax & Mauro Daccordi, 2016, Notes on the species of Plagiodera CHEVROLAT, 1836 of the Australian, Oceanic and Oriental regions, with a description of P. hiekei n. sp. (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae), Entomologische Blätter und Coleoptera 112 (1), pp. 373-385 : 374-375

Plagiodera hiekei n. sp.

Figs 63-70

Type material. Holotype, male: New Guinea Exp. Museum Leiden. K.N.A.G. 1939 , Paniai 20.VIII.1939 ( RMNH).

Paratypes: 1 male, Paniai, 20.VIII.1939 (RMNH); 1 male, same data (MDC); 1 male, same date (NMB); 1 female, Paniai, 17.IX.1939 (MDC); 1 male, Paniai, 23.VIII.1939 (RMNH); 1 female, same data (NMB); 1 male, same data (MDC); 1 female, New Guinea Exp., K. N. A. G., Paniai, 23.VIII.1939 (RMNH); 1 female, Paniai, 5.IX.1939 (RMNH); 3 females, paratypes, 2 females, New Guinea (Neth.) Wisselmeren: Enarodati, 1900 m, 19.VIII.1955 J. L. Gressitt collector (BPMP); 1 female, same data (MDC); 1 female, New Guinea (NW) Wis- selmeren: Enarodati, 1900 m, 22.VIII.1962, J. Sedlacek collectors (BPMB).

Description. Body roundish, hemispherical, winged.

Head, thorax, legs, scutellum, ventral parts brilliant and coloured Indigo Blue; elytra with a shading of Shamrock Green to Dark Green with a reflex of Royal Purple at the sides and at the anterior margin ( Figs 63, 64).

Upper lips large, deeply incised in the middle; clypeus with a few punctures, anterior margin not raised; frons large with some large punctures, last segment of the palpi straight and elongated, antenna hardly longer than the base of the thorax and with the last six antennomeres darkened ( Figs 65, 66).

Thorax straight, arcuate, with widely rounded margins ( Fig. 67), ventral part of the thorax with a small area with some punctures at the base ( Fig. 68). Scutellum ogival and without punctures.

Elytra with irregular punctures, the distance between the punctures 1-2 times their diameter; slightly larger and denser at the sides, the surface between the punctures with very fine stripes; humeral callus large and raised, epipleura very large in the anterior third, deeply folded towards inside, finely corrugated and with a short trans- verse carina, which delimits the grooves, where the knees of the middle and hind legs are placed. The epipleura are narrowed and flatter toward the apex.

Ventral part of the thorax smooth with a large carina, prosternal appendix narrow and bordered, hardly exceeding the anterior hips. Mesosternum large, trapezoid, without a median groove. Metasternum anteriorly large, finely bordered and raised at the sides.

Metaepisterna large and finely punctured, abdominal segments glossy and without punctures, first segment with distinct carina, which reach the anterior margin of the second segment ( Fig. 5). Pygidium smooth and without a median sulcus.

Legs short and regular, femora elongated and slightly widened, tibia short and somewhat enlarged at the external apex, onychium narrow, enlarged and half as long as the entire third article, which is widened and deeply bilobed, claws simple.

Aedeagus as in Figs 69 and 70, tegmen very small, basal part of the median lobe large and diaphanous with a small sulcus. Spermatheca falciform as in Fig. 11.

Length 5.6 mm, width 5.2 mm, length of elytra 5.1 mm, length of thorax 2.8 mm, width of thorax 1.1 mm.

Etymology. The species is dedicated to our colleague Dr. FRITZ HIEKE, who was curator of Coleoptera at the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin and recently passed away.

Remarks. There is a slight nuance concerning the arrangement of the colour Royal Purple. A few specimens have more of this colour than is described for the type. Females have larger dimensions: length 6.1 mm, width 5.4 mm, length of elytra 5.5 mm, width of thorax 3.1 mm, length of thorax 1.2 mm. There are no characters to separate females from the males with certainty, except for the larger size and the articles of the mid and hind tarsi, which are slightly enlarged in males.

The species seems to be endemic to the Oriental area of New Guinea. It is similar to P. riparia, which is widely distributed in the Pacific area. It differs from P. riparia by the coloration: P. riparia has the head, thorax, antenna and legs Crome Orange, the scutellum brown and the elytra Smalt Blue with shadings of Dark Green. Further- more, in P. riparia the base of the thorax has a larger area with punctures at the ventral side ( Fig. 71), the aedeagus is more enlarged at the apex. P. riparia is known from different localities in New Guinea, but is also present in Sulawesi (Celebes) (4 female specimens at our disposal might belong to another species) and in Bali (where only 3 female specimens are known, which we actually attribute to P. riparia).